Actually, Shamila wasn't the only one putting up a scoreboard-crushing performance with the Dark Goddess 01.
On the other two fronts, Longbow and Thresh, piloting Units 02 and 03 respectively, were proving just as lethal.
Longbow, tasked with intercepting the enemy air wing, completely abandoned his usual sniper style.
After broadcasting the initial surrender warning, he leveraged the Gundam's unparalleled maneuverability to get up close and personal. Wielding a particle beam saber, he sliced through dozens of aggressive fighter jets one by one.
Well... if you could ignore the weird, anime-style attack names he kept shouting over the comms like "Dark Void Slash" or "Crimson Storm," he was actually doing a pretty stellar job.
Compared to conventional fighter jets, which have to struggle against G-forces and aerodynamics to turn, the 00-series Gundams were cheating. With their "zero inertia" and "zero load" maneuvering, dogfighting against them was like a pro boxer beating up a toddler.
Even the best ace pilots couldn't touch him.
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Meanwhile, Thresh, who was in charge of intercepting the ground forces, was having an even easier time than Shamila or Longbow.
If a fifty-foot Gundam looked like a small toy next to a thousand-foot aircraft carrier, and looked like a fair fight next to a fighter jet... then on a ground battlefield, the Dark Goddess Gundam was an undisputed titan.
When the black mech slammed into the ground from the sky, landing with an arrogant thud directly in the path of the advancing army, every soldier felt a wave of suffocating pressure.
Thresh didn't even have to try that hard.
He just tanked a volley of tank shells, charged forward, fired a few casual beam shots to blow up some vehicles, and then proceeded to pick up the slow-moving tanks and throw them like baseballs.
What followed was a predictable, desperate rout.
After witnessing the power of the Gundam, the entire army scattered like headless chickens.
No one wanted to be the next unlucky soul flattened by a flying tank—or worse, be inside the tank that was being thrown.
Many drivers of tanks and missile launchers simply abandoned their vehicles, sprinting away from the Gundam as fast as their legs could carry them. They figured it was better to run than to be trapped inside a metal box when the black giant decided it wanted to play catch.
As for the infantry?
Their rifles were basically peashooters. They couldn't even scratch the paint on the Gundam's E-Carbon armor. Naturally, they dropped their heavy gear and initiated a "tactical retreat" immediately.
However, just as Thresh watched the ground forces scatter and prepared to mark the mission as complete, something caught his eye.
A soldier with a strange-looking rig was running against the flow of retreating troops, charging straight toward the Gundam.
Yes, a "normal human" was charging a mech.
But before Thresh could question it, the figure in the red suit began to grow.
With every step, he expanded. In the blink of an eye, the running figure had ballooned in size, matching the height of the Dark Goddess Gundam.
The rapidly expanding giant closed the distance and threw a massive haymaker.
THUD!
A dull, heavy sound echoed as the fist connected squarely with the Gundam's faceplate.
However...
The Gundam, standing firm on the earth, didn't move a millimeter.
Inside the cockpit, Thresh was momentarily stunned. He couldn't figure out what this weirdo—who had been hiding among the infantry before suddenly hulking out—was trying to achieve.
"Is this guy mental?!"
The artillery shells earlier couldn't even dent me. Does he think his fist hits harder than a tank round?
Thresh was speechless, but his reflexes were sharp.
While the giant was frozen in shock that his punch had done absolutely nothing, the black Gundam moved.
Thresh manipulated the mech to grab the giant's attacking right wrist with its left hand. Then, with its right hand, the mech drew the beam saber it hadn't had a chance to use until now.
Hummmm.
The crimson blade ignited instantly.
A flash of light cut through the air, accompanied by the acrid smell of cauterized flesh.
"AAAAHHH——!"
The giant screamed, clutching the stump of his arm in agony.
Thresh had sliced the giant's right arm clean off the moment he drew the blade.
Because of the giant's massive size, his ear-piercing scream echoed across the battlefield. The fleeing soldiers, who had briefly paused to see if this new challenger could stop the Gundam, immediately started running even faster.
Thresh, meanwhile, flicked the severed giant arm off the mech's hand and zoomed in on the wound.
"Green skin? A Skrull? Alright, then I don't need to hold back."
Remembering Luca's pre-mission briefing, Thresh swung the beam saber again.
This time, he wasn't aiming to disarm.
How could a body of flesh and blood withstand a beam saber capable of melting battleship armor?
The vertical slash split the giant right down the middle.
The screaming stopped abruptly.
The massive, bisected body collapsed to the ground with a heavy crash, kicking up a cloud of dust. Thanks to the extreme heat of the beam saber, the wound was cauterized instantly—scorched black with not a drop of blood spilled.
Just as the giant corpse hit the dirt, Luca's voice crackled over Thresh's comms channel.
"Don't—ah, never mind."
Back in the command center, Luca paused.
Ant-Man got captured too? I haven't heard of him being active recently.
Watching the Skrull-Ant-Man get sliced in half before he could even finish his sentence, Luca didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
What a Skrull meathead. Did he think getting big meant he could arm-wrestle a mech?
Thank god he didn't start throwing Pym Particle discs at the Gundam. I need to be careful about that in the future.
But, if they only had him relying on growth for physical combat, does that mean the Skrulls only have one Ant-Man suit?
And why was he hiding among the regular infantry?
Thoughts raced through Luca's mind, but he quickly issued a new order to Thresh.
"Bring that suit back!"
"Yeah, don't give me that look. I want it even if it's broken! And don't forget the glove on the hand you chopped off!"
"The body? Leave it there! What, were you planning on carrying a carcass home?"